How to dress a salad

What I know about salads I owe to une femme who took me in as a
boarder in Toulouse. Despite falling on hard times, she presented a
balanced meal every night.

The structure was usually entrée, a simple main course (one night,
when we had guests from the country, it was roast pheasant,
pick-out-the-buckshot-as-you-eat, with sautéed apples; one of the
best meals I've eaten), then salad, then fruit.

The salad was a mix of soil-grown leaves, bought at the bi-weekly
market. My favourite was heart of cos, treviso and rocket, dressed
with vinaigrette: a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, red
wine vinegar and olive oil.

La femme would clean and dry the leaves, place them in a bowl,
make the vinaigrette, then pour it down the side of the bowl. After
the main course, the salad was tossed and served - a habit I still
observe when hosting dinner parties.

I like my salads bitter with a classic vinaigrette: rainbow chard,
chicory, kale, dandelion and fennel fronds, snow pea shoots and
sprouted mustard. Salad in the French meal is a palate cleanser, a
pause - punctuation at its best.